Sunday, July 3, 2016

Oil on Troubled Waters

There
are, I like to think, two truly American holidays. Thanksgiving Day (In late autumn, after the harvest) looks inward
to the heart and soul of society and so is celebrated at home, at table, among
family and friends. Independence Day
(in early summer) looks outward to the larger world of nations and states. It
recalls when we as a nation assumed that “separate and equal station, among the
powers of the earth,” of which Thomas Jefferson famously wrote.

But
long before Jefferson and his famous Declaration, the first Europeans to settle
this continent brought their Catholic faith and
institutions with them, leaving a strong legacy of Catholic culture throughout both
North and South America. That legacy is currently being highlighted in so many
ways by recent generations of Latin American immigrants. They in turn follow
earlier generations of European immigrants, who brought a distinct Catholic
sensibility to the American experiment, rooted in their own immigrant
experience and its challenges.

In
the 19th century, Servant of God Isaac Hecker, who founded the
Paulist Fathers 158 years ago this week, emphasized the moral seriousness of
citizenship and its responsibilities. As part of his religious mission to
evangelize America, Isaac Hecker consistently sought to identify important
points of contact between the Catholic faith and its understanding of society,
on the one hand, and the political culture of the United States, on the other.
While humanity’s truest fulfillment is ultimately to be found in the kingdom of
God, Hecker recognized that being a citizen of God’s kingdom has implications
in the more mundane and immediate responsibilities of citizenship in society.

In
a time of terrible social conflict and political polarization in the United
States, Hecker expressed his confidence in what Catholics had to offer to America.
Already at his very first audience with Blessed Pope Pius IX, on December 22,
1857, in response to the Pope’s concern about factional strife in the United
States, “in which,” as the Pope put it, “parties get each other by the hair,”
Hecker confidently replied that “the Catholic truth,” once known, “would come
between” parties “and act like oil on troubled waters.” [From a letter to the American Fathers, Rome, December 22,
1857]

Hecker’s
hope that we act like oil on the troubled waters of a conflicted and
politically polarized society remains as relevant today. Unfortunately,
economic trends and social and cultural changes have all combined to make society and the social bonds that
are its glue that much more brittle. Meanwhile, corrective action in the form of
effective public policy has become more and more difficult to achieve. In turn, these trends may further encourage
apathy and cynicism on the part of ordinary citizens and increased ideological
intensity among the most politically active. The moral and public policy
consequences of framing political choices in this way are alarming for the
future of our society. Hence, this recent warning from the President of the
United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops: “When we fail to see the
difference between our enemies and people of good will, we lose a part of who
we are as people of faith. Policies of fear and inflammatory rhetoric will only
offer extremists fertile soil and pave the way toward a divisive, fearful
future.“ [Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, December 14, 2015]

This
same concern also applies to the moral and political judgments and choices
which we make about the wider world beyond our national borders, where we must
likewise guard against what Pope Francis, speaking to Congress last year,
called “the simple reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will,
the righteous and sinners.” [September
24, 2015]

More
pointedly, Pope Francis has challenged us as a Church “to give a clear answer
in the face of the threats that arise within the public debate." "Believers are citizens,” Pope Francis reminds us. “The nation
is not a museum, but a collective work in permanent construction in which the
things that differentiate one, including political and religious membership,
are to be put in common” [Address in Florence, November 11, 2015]

Indeed,
our Catholic tradition of reflection on political principles and on social and
economic questions and policies represents a profoundly rich storehouse of
moral wisdom - wisdom which fully reflects centuries of human experience and
responds to fundamental human needs more comprehensively than contemporary
ideologies, whether of the Left or the Right.

Jesus’
action in today’s Gospel [Luke
10:1-12, 17-20] in sending the 72
disciples on a kind of practice run for what they would later be doing
full-time after his ascension reminds us that evangelizing (as Pope Paul VI
expressed it so well) “constitutes the essential mission of the Church” – in every
age and in every society.

Jesus,
we are told, sent the 72 in pairs –
not as solitary individuals, but in pairs. Ours is a culture which places a lot
of emphasis on our private, individual lives and private, individual freedoms.
But the Gospel reminds us that we are not isolated, solitary selves, but a community
of faithful people, formed by the Holy Spirit into one Church, the body of the
Risen Christ, to continue his mission in
every town and place. Jesus commanded his disciples to make a difference in
their world. So, if we really mean what we say we believe, then what we do in
our many relationships and multiple commitments – in our families and among
friends, at work or at school, in civil society, and in the wider world – must
make a difference and be recognizable as such. Jesus expects us to be on the
same side with him – on the side of God’s kingdom. Being on God’s side, having
our names written in heaven (as Jesus
says), frees us to join Jesus in making a real, recognizable difference in an
always challenging, sometimes very welcoming, but also sometimes sadly
inhospitable world. It frees us to tell – and retell –the story of Jesus, to
speak his word to any and all, so we too can say to the country and the world we love: “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

Homily for the 14th Sunday in ordinary Time, Immaculate Conception Church, Knoxville, TN, July 3, 2016.

About Me

Rev. Ronald Franco, CSP, is a member of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (The Paulist Fathers) and Vice-Postulator for the Canonization Cause of Paulist Founder, Isaac Hecker. He is Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Knoxville, TN,